Strawberry Cupcake: The Double Dog Dare
by Starry Nights
Summary: Two little one shots in one. Helga's birthday cupcake and a little double dare challenge.


**Disclaimer:** I do own the laptop I'm typing this on. Characters, on the other hand, not so much.

**Author's Note:** These are two baby pieces that were tumbling in my head. I don't usually post stories under 5-6 pages but I liked these enough to turn on my laptop and write them out instead of just typing them on my iPod and posting it to my wordpress. Enjoy!

**Strawberry Cupcake**

"Happy Birthday, Helga." Miriam said to the girl slowly as she tried not to drop the bags in her hand…or maybe she was trying show motherly compassion and not run home to brandish a smoothie with the items in the bag.

Helga couldn't tell because her astonishment at the fact that her mother not only drove her to school but remembered her birthday was short-lived.

"Miriam." Her voice was thick with sarcasm. "What kind of cake is this?"

"Hmm?" The woman looked at the store bought cupcake as if she couldn't remember giving it to her just a few moments ago. "Oh! It's just a vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting."

"I'm _allergic _to strawberries."

"Oh, I'm sorry dear. It was always Olga's favorite…" Miriam let the sentence drift off. The bag smacked her leg and the bottles clinked loudly. Helga narrowed her eyes.

"Bye Miriam."

Relief flooded her mother's face. "Have a good day at school, Olga."

She didn't even bother to correct her mother. Whatever. She still needed to get inside and find Phoebe. Science homework doesn't exactly do itself.

"Hey Helga!"

She tried not to break out into a poem as Arnold walked up to her with a sheepish smile on his face. He tugged at his sweater but said nothing else. "Well, Arnoldo? Spit it out! I have places to be."

"I heard the conversation with your mother."

"Just an ordinary day at casa de Pataki." She muttered cutting him off.

He continued in a rush as if she had not spoken. "Well, I want you to have this."

Arnold held out a huge red cupcake with pink frosting.

"I'm allergic to strawberries."

He nodded. "I know. Grandma made these in honor of St. Patrick's Day. It's just red velvet cake with vanilla frosting colored pink."

Helga wanted to say something about his grandmother, something about the absurdity of making red cupcakes for St. Patty's Day which passed some days ago but she had a deep respect for his grandmother. The silence between them stretched as she noted the slight fear in his eyes. At least, she continued to think, he couldn't see the real reason beneath her wordlessness. She was flattered. Boldly, he reached out for the cupcake that Miriam had carelessly bought her and replaced it with his grandmother's red treat.

"Well, I know you have other things to do…" He said nervously.

She nodded. "Thank your loony grandma for me."

He grinned at the lack of malice in her voice. "Happy birthday, Helga."

"Alright, football head. Don't get all mushy on me."

Arnold, wearing a lopsided grin, backed away from her. "Whatever you say, Helga."

Forgetting all about her Science homework, Helga ran to the nearest bathroom so she could swoon and create beautiful poetry for the love of her young life in private.

----

**The Double-Dog Dare**

"Have you done this before?"

"Yeah, I do this all the time!"

"Really?" Excitement laced the question.

"No." She hissed at her companion.

"So now what?"

"Well, you can start by taking your arm off me."

"If you can't handle my arm, then how are you going to handle…?"

"Look, I'm sure talking to me was not apart of this."

The boy scoffed. "Well, we aren't exactly doing what we are supposed to be doing."

She sighed. "If you do this wrong, you'll regret it."

"Does that mean you're ready to…?"

"Yeah, yeah." She leaned closer into his waiting arms. "After all, I do have a reputation to uphold and I _never _welsh on a double dare."

**--**

**Author's Note: **I hope you liked. Look out for Chapter Four of _La Vie En Rose _coming soon! I had an idea on who I wanted the two characters to be and what they are doing but I rather enjoy the ambiguity.


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